Hogwarts Invades Coates
by HPCKeyboard
Summary: I fail at titles. And summaries. Dx  What happens when a Muggle Studies class takes a field trip to a muggle school? And what happens when that muggle school is COATES? Harry's kids gen, half the characters are OC's from both fandoms. Enjoy!  Max
1. Chapter 1

**I was bored, ladies and gentlemen. And thus, a crossover was born! *O***

**Half the characters in here are OC's (okay, maybe they're HPCers...), and this is my first fanfic on here. SO DON'T JUDGE MEH. D:**

**~Max**

Max's POV

I sat in Muggle Studies, bored as per usual, staring at the front of the classroom. Why had I chosen this, again? Oh, right. Because Divination, the subject that I _wanted_ to take, was at the same time as Care of Magical Creatures. And no way was I gonna leave Hagrid to the mercy of the Slytherins.

Professor Meriodoc was going on and on about muggle schools and such. Most of the stuff that muggles apparently learned seemed fairly useless to me. Around the room, some of the kids, mostly half-bloods and muggle-borns, were nodding along. They must've attended schools like that before they came to Hogwarts.

Quite frankly, I don't think I'll _ever_ understand muggles.

Not that I don't like them. I'm not a Slytherin or an ex-Death Eater's kid or anything like that. It's just… well, they go to incredible measures to fit every little thing into their own picture of reality. Like this summer. I'd been talking to some randoms, and my hair accidentally went to blue, its default color. They decided that I had some sort of delayed hair-dye condition thing. Idiots.

I guess that Professor Meriodoc must've said something, because everyone else in the class started whispering to each other. I elbowed the person next to me, who happened to be Maggie, one of my best friends.

"What's going on?" I asked, confused.

She looked at me strangely. "Honestly, don't you ever pay attention in class? We're taking a field trip to some sort of American muggle boarding-school for about a month."

I blinked. Muggle boarding-school? _American_? Professor Meriodoc finally managed to get the rest of the class to quiet down.

"Yes, yes, a muggle school. For a month. Don't worry, you won't have to catch up on all of your missed homework…" That last remark earned several sighs of relief.

"But we're going to go over some ground rules first. First of all… use of magic will be kept to a strict minimum. The same rules as summer holidays apply." This caused a few groans. "Now, now, it's not the end of the world. You'll still be able to carry your wand just in case. Secondly, giving out personal information should also be kept to a minimum."

A Ravenclaw girl, Jonni, in the back raised her hand. "Professor, exactly which school will we be going to? There's a school in New York that one of my cousins go to…"

Professor Meriodoc shook her head. "You won't be going to New York. You'll be going to a different school in California, outside a small town called Perdido Beach. It's called Coates Academy, I believe."

Coates? What kind of a name for a school was that? Then again, 'Hogwarts' could be considered odd, too…

"Anyway, a few things you should know about the school. It is _not_ a school for normal kids. The reason we have chosen it is because it may be easier for you lot to blend in. Anyway, the kids there might not be the nicest… but please. No matter _how_ much you want to strangle them, refrain from doing so. It gives me extra paper work that I don't want."

I received a pointed look, which I shrugged off. I was sort of known for getting into fights. Especially on the quidditch pitch. Me and Maggie both.

"Anyway, you'll be leaving in a fortnight. Letters have been sent to your parents, and we are awaiting permission." The bell rang. "Class dismissed!"

The next two weeks were complete turmoil. I was sort of excited, but at the same time… no magic or exploding potions? Where's the fun in that?

And for another thing, I was going to be missing quidditch. _Quidditch_. Our captain, James Potter, who was not in Muggle Studies, was not particularly happy with me. Or Maggie, for that matter.

"How on _earth_ do you expect Gryffindor to win the cup if _both _our Seeker and our best Chaser are gone? For a _month_?"

"C'mon, James…" Maggie replied, rolling her eyes. "We've already played Slytherin last week. We'll be back for the match against Ravenclaw."

"But not Hufflepuff," argued James. "And they have a good team this year."

"Don't worry," I said groggily. Because we were leaving, we got extra Potions homework, and I'd been up all night trying to finish it. "Even if we lose one match, we can still get the cup."

James didn't look convinced. But he shrugged, seeing as arguing against both of us was useless, and turned to Maggie. "Just promise me one thing, okay? Don't go leaving me for some American muggle."

Maggie giggled and said something in reply, but I didn't hear it, as I was already walking away. A huge Maggie/James snog fest was _not_ something I wanted to see.

On the bright side of the whole thing, we spent our remaining Muggle Studies classes (and a few History of Magic classes) coming up with creative cover stories. On how we ended up in Coates, which, after doing a bit of research, seemed more like a prison than a school. Maggie's story included shoplifting and constantly framing people… stuff like that. Mine, of course, included some kind of massive explosion. In a police station. Using this muggle explosive stuff called gunpowder.

Eventually, the big day came, though. We packed up a few things, but we couldn't bring our owls (which worried Maggie and James, and caused me to eye-roll), or potion ingredients, which I'd packed anyway. The train was going to take us from Hogsmeade to King's Cross, and then we were going to board a plane, and separate from there, arriving at the school at different times. Me and Maggie, who had decided that she had 'helped' me with my mass explosion thing, were going first, at the same time.

I stared out the window, watching Hogwarts disappear in the distance. I'd done the same thing many times, as I went home for Christmas and summer holidays. But it was different this time, somehow. _Don't worry,_ I thought to myself. _You'll be back in only a month._

How very wrong I was.

**And that's chapter one, guys.**

**I would be a VERY happy person if you could R&R. ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**This. Took. Forever. To. Write. **

**Stupid writer's block... -_-**

**Anyhoo, here's Chapter Two, guys!**

**Not as good as the first chapter, in my opinion... :|**

**OH, and the character Max (aka me) is a girl. Just clarifying. ^_^**

Maggie's POV

An hour had passed since we left Hogwarts.

And quite frankly, I was missing James already.

I was staring out the window, humming absent-mindedly. For some unfathomable reason, Max was already asleep. Even though it was broad daylight. And I was bored silly.

I got up, and walked out of the compartment, careful not to wake Max. Chloe and Albus were sitting in a compartment a little further down the train, and were laughing up a storm at _something_. I knocked on the door, Chloe stood, still giggling, and opened it for me.

"Hey, Maggie," she said, laughter subsiding somewhat.

"Hey, Chloe, Al…" I said, looking over her shoulder and nodding at Albus. He was basically the brother I never had, considering that James and I were dating. I noticed that somebody else was in the compartment, too. A Ravenclaw girl who was usually one of my Potions partners (the Professor knew better than to pair me, Max, and Chloe up).

"Hey, Jonni."

"Hi," she replied, grinning and holding a book. Chloe took my arm and dragged me into the compartment so I was sitting next to her, and pointed to a picture in the book. "Lookit that," she said, grinning. "Professor Longbottom, like, a million years ago."

I nearly collapsed from laughter. His expression was so comical…

"Where'd you find that?" I asked, still giggling.

Jonni shrugged. "It was in this scrapbook thing I found in the library. Old pictures from ancient Daily Prophets." She grinned. "Some of them are pretty hilarious."

There was another knock on the compartment door. We all looked up to see a very annoyed, violet-haired Max standing there. "Ahem," she said, tapping her foot. I opened the door, and she flopped down on the seat beside me.

"Way to ditch me," she said, looking peeved. I rolled my eyes.

"You were asleep. And you snore loudly." This earned me an eye roll from her.

"Oh, guys, I forgot to tell you…" piped up Albus, who was busy undoing the latches of his trunk. "James let me borrow this… you know, in case we get into any trouble with the muggles…" With that last remark, he pulled out some kind of shimmery fabric. I knew it immediately. The invisibility cloak.

Max was almost beside herself with excitement now. "Oh, my god… have you ANY idea how many pranks we can pull now? And without the use of magic, either…" she added, seeing the expression on Jonni's face. "Perfectly within the rules…"

The lot of us laughed at that. We all knew for a fact that it would be next to impossible for Max to stay within the rules. Or me and Chloe, considering how much we all hang out with each other.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, we were at King's Cross. Chloe was asleep, her head resting on Albus's chest, but Jonni decided to wake her before me or Max got the chance. We all dragged our stuff off the train, and ran through the barrier, unnoticed (thank the wizarding god) by muggles. Professor Meriodoc, who had come with us along with Professor Longbottom, herded us outside and over to the sidewalk, where the Knight Bus was waiting. I grinned at the driver, Marcus Weatherby. He was one of my cousins, and was over at my parents' house often when he wasn't taking the bus shift.<p>

After another half hour of being hurtled back and forth on the bus, we managed to arrive at the airport in one piece. I didn't exactly see why we couldn't just take a portkey to America. I mean, really, even in the wizarding world you hear about various plane crashes and stuff. But, according to the Professor, travelling muggle-style would "Enhance our learning experience." This remark caused our group to eye-roll.

Albus had to hide the cloak to prevent Maxxie from using it to scare poor, innocent muggles. Even if her plan to set off an exploding potion in one of the food court's restaurants _was_ a rather good one… anyway, by the time we boarded the plane, it was stashed away safely. Though even Max knew better than to set off an explosion in an airplane.

I slept most of the flight. But my dreams were super confusing. A whole bunch of faces I didn't know… a lot of flashes of light, stuff like that. But, like most of my dreams, I didn't remember much of it when I woke up. And by that time, the plane had landed, and Max and Chloe were basically dragging me off. Jonni and Albus were waiting nearby, chatting with Rose and her younger brother, Hugo. Hugo was easily the youngest on the trip, turning 13 in about a month. Considering he was the only one in his year to have signed up for Muggle Studies, he was put into our class, and thus was here, in America, with the rest of us. He and his sister were looking around the airport in awe.

"So…" said Max, taking a good look around and nodding slightly, "this is what the U.S. looks like."

"They've got weird accents…" muttered Jonni, eyeing a group of people passing by. Chloe shrugged.

"Well, right about now, I'd say _we're _the ones with weird accents. When we get to that school tomorrow…" I remarked.

School tomorrow. It was already… what… midnight, maybe one in the morning? I wasn't much tired, though, considering I'd slept through most of the trip. Professor Longbottom seemed to have this covered, though.

"Yes, yes, I know, you're all going to be tired. I don't blame you. Fortunately, the essence of the…" he went on and on about what type of plant it was that had the properties of this and that, and it sounded just like another Herbology lesson. All I really got out of it was some kind of sleeping drought that helped you get over jet lag.

Finally, after an hour of Professor Longbottom getting us hopelessly lost about a dozen times, we checked in at our hotel, and went up to our rooms. We each got our own, all down the same hallway. After both of the Professors went down to the main lobby to chat with some random, we all gathered in Chloe's room.

"So… excited for tomorrow, huh?" asked Rose, yawning. That drought was already taking some effect.

"Mm-hm…" I muttered sleepily. "You guys are lucky. You get to wait a couple days… _and_ you get to sleep in."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Not our fault you guys got your names picked out of that freaking hat first…" Jonni nodded in agreement.

Max laughed suddenly. "I wonder what their reaction will be when a whole bunch of British kids show up in basically the same week…"

Jonni and Albus shook their heads. "Nope. Some of us have to get different accents…" explained Jonni. "Mine's gonna be American."

Albus grinned. "Russian for the win!" he said, laughing.

Rose shrugged. "Me and Hugo are going to be staying British, too…" she said, smiling and gesturing towards her brother, who was sleeping on the couch. "I mean, _some_ of us have to keep our dignity…"

This last remark caused a few fake death glares, and a few laughs, too. It was going to be hilarious picturing Jonni with a Tennessee accent, and more so Albus with a Russian one. These next few weeks were going to be interesting, to say the least.

After another hour or so of chatting, I was laying in my room, curled up in a pile of blankets, and thinking about what the next day would bring. I remembered what Professor Meriodoc had said about this school. How the kids weren't… _normal_.

But really. How bad could a muggle school be?

**Okay, I'm sorry, Coates isn't in _yet._ But it will be next chapter. I promise! D:**

**Now, click those blue letters below. I commandeth thee. IMPERIO.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Again. I had writer's block right after the first two sentences. Sad, I know.**

**Until suddenly, in the past two hours, I had a brainwave.**

**Yeah, they're FINALLY at Coates. ^_^**

**Enjoy!**

Jonni's POV

I woke up at around 8 am the next morning. Want to know why?

Because a bludger crashed through my wall. That's right. A bludger. Through my _wall._

Albus, being the idiot he is, tried to pack a rogue one in Hugo's bag, and… well, things didn't go as planned.

So Professor Longbottom had to go around the hotel, erasing basically everybody's memory.

Gah. _Gryffindors._

Anyway, Max, Maggie, and both the Weasleys were up, and tromping up and down the hallway. Thus waking up the rest of the hotel guests who _weren't_ attacked by the bludger.

And, of course, with the last minute packing, there was always the occasional shout of, "OY! Where's my tooth brush?" and stuff like that.

Or, in the case of Max, things like, "Albus Severus Potter, where the bloody _hell_ did you hide my lacewing?" I'm not sure what it is with that girl and exploding stuff.

I dragged my butt out of bed after about a minute of the racket, my hands clamped over my ears. If that was how Gryffindors normally got up in the mornings, then I was sure as hell glad I was sorted in Ravenclaw.

* * *

><p>Hugo's POV<p>

I was _not_ very happy that morning. At all.

For one thing, I had to get up early. Both the professors decided that Rose and I would be going with Max and Maggie, because we were all keeping our British accents. And they told us that _just_ before breakfast.

For another, Albus decided to pull a little prank on me. And the rest of the hotel. Sometimes, I almost think he's worse than his brother… which is saying a lot.

On the plus side, we were staying at one of those hotels that had free breakfast. And not just a few boxes of cereal lying around. I'm talking cinnamon buns, waffles, eggs, the works. Not up to Hogwarts standards… but _still_.

I was basically gorging myself while my sister looked on in disgust. I knew exactly what Mom would say… _"Lord, Hugo, you're just like your father."_ At this thought, I became kind of homesick. For the next month, I wouldn't be able to write to either of my parents… though I would be able to use what Dad called a "fellytone". I think Mom explained what that was once… and Rose probably knew, too (Rose knows basically _everything_), but I couldn't remember. Oh, well.

After breakfast was almost more chaotic than earlier, though. There was tons of running up and down the hallways, looking for about a bajillion different things. To be honest, I was pretty sure the muggles would be glad to see us leave.

At around noon, it was time to go. I checked my bag _twice _to make sure that Al wasn't up to any of his shenanigans, and hefted it onto my shoulder. Max and Maggie had already said their goodbyes, and were outside in the taxi that was waiting for us. Rose stood by the doors, giving a final hug to Al, Jonni, Chloe, and a few other people along for the trip who I didn't know.

I only really gave hugs to Albus and Chloe, and waved to Jonni and the others, considering I didn't know them that well. Being the youngest wasn't always the greatest… and I didn't think it would be when we got to that muggle school, Coates. I'd be in entirely different classes… _stop worrying_, I told myself. _You're gonna be fine, and you're gonna have fun_.

Soon, we were on the road again, heading to… well… what I _hoped_ would be a decent-enough place.

* * *

><p>Max's POV<p>

The road trip seemed to go on. And on. _And on._

I didn't think even the Knight Bus rides were that long.

Maybe the fact that I'd gotten basically _zero_ sleep was part of the reason.

For some unfathomable reason unknown to mankind, I am completely incapable of sleeping _anywhere_ but at home or at Hogwarts. Which was really going to suck, considering that I was going to be spending the next month nowhere near either of the two.

This trip was becoming suddenly less appealing.

After what felt like a couple of centuries, we were going through the town, Perdido Beach. "Only a few more minutes…" the taxi driver told us distractedly, his eyes fixated on the road. I swear that guy never blinked once during the entire trip.

By the time we arrived at the school, it was about two in the afternoon. Thank god it was a Saturday, because no way was I walking into a classroom and introducing myself the way kids do on those Muggle TV shows.

We all stepped ~ or should I say _tumbled_ ~ out of the car, and yanked our bags and stuff out of the back. After hefting my rather heavy bag over my shoulder, I took a good look over at the school, shielding my eyes from the glare of the sun. I guessed the school could be considered impressive, with pillars and carefully groomed grounds and such.

Size-wise, though, it looked like Hogwarts could eat this place for breakfast. Coates was only about two or three storeys tall. Which meant basically no room for any secret passages or anything.

Where was the fun?

As I was gawking, though, I got the peculiar feeling I was being watched. Looking up, I met the eyes of a couple of kids looking at us from a window on the second storey. A girl and a boy, both with dark hair and dark eyes. The girl looked like she belonged on one of those love-potion ads. Thus, I basically decided I didn't like her.

While my gaze flickered to them, though, the girl whispered something to the guy, and then they both drew back from the window. Creepy, much. I was beginning to contemplate whether or not the school had ghosts when Rose started shouting at me.

"Max, get your head out of the clouds, and let's go!" With that, she yanked on my arm, dragging me ahead to the front entrance.

Once inside, I noticed how freaking _clean_ it looked. Everything perfectly dusted and polished to a shine. _Cleary_ these guys didn't have a poltergeist.

I decided I didn't like the place much.

I brushed my now reddish-brown hair (I had to change it to a regular muggle color) out of my eyes and made my way to the front desk with the others. The lady there looked up, smiled sweetly, and started giving a whole welcome-speech.

Who was that lady who our parents told us about from when they were in their fifth year? Umbridge? Yeah, I was pretty sure I just met her.

"Well, if it isn't our newest editions to the school. Don't you all look lovely? You're going to absolutely _love_ it here. I know you've made some mistakes in your lives…" she gave us a sympathetic look, and I could tell Maggie was resisting the urge to glare, "but don't worry, we're hear to fix that up. However, there're a few rules that we have to go over…"

I tuned the rest out at that point, pretended to listen, and walked along with the rest of the group.

We'd gone maybe a few metres when we were met by a group of kids, including Ghost Girl and Phantom Boy (my new nicknames for them). There was a couple of other girls, two, both younger than Ghost Girl, and another boy who looked about their age. Ghost Girl stepped forward first, smiling the sort of fake smile you see on the cover of Witch Weekly, and shook each of our hands.

"Hi, I'm Diana Ladris," she said, grinning. We all mumbled our names in return, although Hugo was a little late, considering the fact that he was ogling at one of the younger girls in the group, who was elbowing the other and whispering, "I _told_ you they were gonna be British…"

Diana stepped back then, and whispered something to Phantom Boy, who nodded, and smiled charismatically at the rest of us. Though his smile seemed kind of fake, too, it was an improvement over Diana's for sure.

"Caine Soren," he said, not bothering to shake hands with any of us, which was kind of strange. Why would that Diana girl shake our hands, but not him…? "Welcome to Coates."

I realized then that the two, both Diana and Caine, had the same sort of tone to their voices. One of superiority.

I've never disliked two people so quickly in all my life.

Caine went on introducing everyone else (whose names were Manda, Brianna, and Jack, I think…), but I barely heard any of it.

I was too busy plotting my first prank in this school, because I'd found two perfect victims.

This whole Coates place was starting to look like a lot more fun all of a sudden.

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Chapter Three.**

**Oh, and the Gaiaphage commands you to click those blue letters... **

**You know, the ones right there, below...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally, it's up. After days of Microsoft Word being a jerk, Christmas Holidays, and the occasional death threat.**

**Sorry it took so long. :|**

**Anyhoo, Merry be-lated Christmas!**

**And I don't own the epicness that is Gone and Harry Potter.**

**If I owned Harry Potter... Fred, Sirius, Dobby, Mad-Eye, Lupin, Tonks, Dumbledore, and Snape wouldn't have died.**

**If I owned Gone... somebody would've given Drake a hug by now, and Brittney most certainly would _not_ exist.**

Rose's POV

My first impressions of these Caine and Diana people weren't exactly the greatest on the planet.

I don't think Max or Maggie's were, either. Especially considering the look in Max's eye. I knew that look. It meant that she was plotting. _Again_.

And we'd barely been here for ten minutes. If that wasn't a record, I didn't know what was.

I wasn't sure what to say for Hugo, though. He had that glazed look in his eyes, and was basically stalker-staring at one of the Coates girls, Manda, while she was walking down the hallway with her friend towards the library. Maggie and I, of course,_ had _to snicker at that. My poor brother was twitter-pated.

Caine, meanwhile, was giving his own sort of welcome speech. "So, yeah. This is Coates. Basically all of us have messed up somewhere in our lives, or our parents just really, _really_ hate us." He shrugged. "Not meaning to sound like one of those computerized video things, but, well, might as well get used to it. See you guys later," and with that, he walked away, leaving Diana behind, who stifled a laugh.

"Well, there's Mr. Bigshot," she said, grinning and turning to the rest of us. "Acting like Superman one moment, and then completely awkward the next. Anyway, I guess I'd better show you guys your dorms… two to each room, and all that…" she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, glanced at it, turned on her heals, and started walking. We followed, me pulling Hugo along.

"Okay, so… Rose, right? Yeah, you're in same room as me, and Maggie and… Max? Just making sure I got it right… you two are in 3B, I think… yup." She pulled out another piece of paper, and looked it quickly over.

"Hugo, you're down in 6A with Computer Jack… I mean, Jack," she said, nodding to Hugo, who had yanked his arm away from me. "He'll show you where it is later."

A few minutes later, we managed to find our rooms. Max and Maggie went off to check out their room, while I went with Diana to ours.

I'm not sure if it was better or worse than Hogwarts.

Better in the sense that the rooms were _way_ bigger, less crowded, and with their own bathrooms.

Worse, because, unlike Hogwarts, it didn't feel like home. No cozy feeling or anything.

I could tell right off the bat which side of the room was mine and which was Diana's. Hers was littered with Seventeen and Covergirl magazines, clothing, and make-up. I didn't really recognize any of the labels, though. Maybe a few from when Mom took me shopping… but that was it.

On my bed, there was a file with my name stamped in bold letters on it. I opened it, and found some sort of student handbook thing. Schedules, school map… everything that I'd need to be "successful." I couldn't help but laugh a bit. The map was basically unnecessary. If I could find my way around Hogwarts, where the passages seem to change every five seconds, I would easily be able to navigate _this _place. And as for the handbook… well, it was as if I was going to be staying here for the rest of my life, rather than a month.

* * *

><p>Maggie's POV<p>

Our rooms weren't bad, but not great, either. I was starting to miss Hogwarts… aw, well. I'd get used to it.

On the other side of the room, Max was busy hiding her potions ingredients and Zonko's products under the bed and in her drawers. I noticed a few small boxes clearly labelled "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" lying on the floor, and I had to raise my eyebrows. The boxes all had bright red stamps on them… meaning the products hadn't been tested yet. Trust Max to be carrying stuff like _that _around.

Eventually, though, we were waiting outside in the hallway for Rose and Diana. Hugo was nowhere to be seen… I assumed he was off with that Computer Jack kid. Or trying to look for Manda… one or the two. Soon enough, Diana and Rose stepped out of what must've been their dorm, and made their way over to us. I couldn't read Rose's expression… but I could almost guarantee that she wasn't looking forward to being Diana's room-mate.

"Okay…" began Diana, clasping her hands together. "Just to go over a few ground rules…"

"We've already read the student handbook thingy, if that's what you're going to start going off about," I couldn't help but interrupt. Diana glared at me for a split second, and then went on.

"No, this has got nothing to do with that. It's basically… well… the whole who to stick with and who to avoid thing."

Oh, boy. Your typical run-of-the-mill muggle social ladder. The three of us all fought against rolling our eyes.

"So, people like Manda, Taylor, Brianna, Jack, Asiya… they're all nice and stuff, so they're probably okay. Safe and everything." She nodded slightly to herself.

"I guess I could say I'm safe too. Caine… well… that depends, really…" Yeah, there was that plotting look on Max's face, again.

"But some of the others… okay, I should say basically _half_ the others… aren't so great. Half the population of the school is bullies, so… yeah, this place is basically a living hell for some. So you should stay away from people like Frederico, Mark, Jason, and, of course, Drake."

Well, that was sure uplifting. It was like having half of Hogwarts in Slytherin house. And we didn't even _know_ any of these people… not that I was afraid, of course. My wand was tucked safely in the sleeve of the sweater I was wearing, so, quite frankly, even if one of the muggles had a _chainsaw_, I was perfectly safe.

* * *

><p>Manda's POV<p>

Well, turns out we had another pack of newbies. Funny thing was, we were scheduled to get a whole bunch of newbies over the next couple of weeks. Which meant either new bullies, or new victims for the bullies already here.

You can see why I hate this school so much.

The three of us, me, Asiya, and Brianna, were sitting in the library, passing around a pack of redvines. I was trying to catch up on this pile of homework that our history teacher assigned, while the other two sat chatting, Asiya with one headphone dangling out of her ear.

The textbook was giving me one hell of a time. I couldn't find a _thing_ about Magellan… I swear our teacher hated our guts. Just when I thought I found a paragraph on him, I heard part of the others' conversation.

"…he's been doing nothing but ogle at us the _entire_ time…"

"More like ogle at Manda…"

I could already feel the blush creeping into my cheeks. I had noticed it too. One of the new kids, Hugo, a younger brother of that Rose girl by the looks of it, had been staring at me. _Staring_ at me. I didn't know what to make of it. Was he thinking that I could be the next victim for a prank, or…

Or did he actually _like_ me?

I didn't know, considering the fact that I had next to _no_ experience with these kinds of things. Except for once in first grade, but that didn't count for anything. I could've invaded the conversation and asked Brianna… nah. Then they would assume that I had a crush on him… and if Taylor was around listening… well, the word would get out in seconds. And I didn't need something like that on my plate.

So, for the time being, I pretended I hadn't heard, and continued my search through the textbook.

Unfortunately, I had only managed to scribble down a few notes when the bell for dinner rang. Sighing, I packed up my books, and slung my school bag over my shoulder. Asiya grinned at me.

"Study session cut short?" she teased, chewing on a redvine.

"Oh, shush," I replied, snatching the bag out of her hands, "and these belong to me, last time I checked."

"Not anymore!" Brianna yanked them out of my grasp, her hands only a blur. Asiya laughed.

"Hey!" I said, an indignant smile already spreading over my face. "_Mine._"

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" and with that, Brianna stuck out her tongue, and ran at a dead sprint out of the room, despite the librarian's protests. Okay, that's a lie. A dead sprint to me would've been slow-motion to her. So I was left in the dust with Asiya, laughing. I couldn't help it. Had it not been for those two, this school would've been absolute hell.

"C'mon," said Asiya, stifling her own laughter, "let's go before all the good food gets cold."

"Good food?" I scoffed, walking out of the room. "If you think that chilli is good food…"

"Hey, at least it's edible."

"Barely."

We had just rounded the corner when we heard yelling down the hall. The two of us hastily ducked behind a nearby pillar, or, rather, Asiya tried to go see what it was while I dragged her along with me.

I recognized one of the voices almost immediately. And let me tell you now, being near a voice like _that_ was most certainly _not_ a good thing.

"Crap…" I muttered under my breath, backing slowly into the hallway we'd been walking down before. We'd forgotten that we were heading for the hallway that went from the shrink's office to the dining hall.

And if Drake Merwin had just gotten out of a chat with the school psychologist, he wasn't going to be a happy camper.

"Crap is right…" whispered Asiya, her eyes narrowed.

"C'mon, let's go before we're heard," I hissed, turning on my heal. After a moment's hesitation, she followed.

"I don't see why we're walking away," she whispered, talking more to herself than to me. "I mean, there's two of us, and one of him… I think we could take him on."

"You're insane," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Then we heard more voices down that hallway, from the other end where we'd heard Drake. The voices of the new kids, by the sound of it…

If Diana had been giving the welcoming speech and ground rules, like we'd all agreed she would, then she must've forgotten to mention that little tidbit of information

Asiya and I glanced at each other, and then simultaneously looked back down towards the place where we'd just been hiding. Sure enough, the three girls, Rose, Maggie, and Max, were walking past, laughing at some joke.

I sighed. I wanted to go tell them… but they didn't seem like the sort of people who'd listen, anyway. Asiya had been able to figure out that much.

The two of us continued walking, dread and a tinge of guilt filling my head. A brutal murder with three victims was sure to put a damper on dinner.

**I solemnly swear I won't take so long on Chapter Five.**

**Simon says to click the review button. ^_^**


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